STERLING -- Of America's roughly 314 million people, more than 795,000 will have a stroke within the next year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 133,000 of those will die.

And according to Julie Klein, CEO of Sterling Regional MedCenter, one of the best treatments for a stroke is an early response and diagnosis once symptoms arise.

That's why she and the staff have brought the Collaborative Digital Online Consultant (CO-DOC) telemedicine program to SRM - using a "robot" that connects patients in Sterling to neuroscientists at Swedish Medical Center in Denver.

CO-DOC went live on Monday.

The connection, dubbed the telestroke program, uses a secured video link to provide patients immediate, all-day access to board-certified neurologists who are experts in stroke care.

But Klein said the program starts before the teleconference even begins.

Once EMS crews receive a call about someone who might be experiencing a stroke, they immediately inform staff members at the hospital who have received training in collecting the correct blood type, calling physicians and effectively setting up a review.

The physicians, who are on call all day for SRM and 29 other hospitals linked to the system, can then assess and interview the patient, consult on-site physicians, and provide consultation about the patient's plan of care.

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A camera attached to CO-DOC can zoom in with high enough resolution to check minute details, such as pupil dilation.

"The sooner they get here, the sooner we can help them," Klein said. "This instantly improves our way of taking care of the community."

The consultation also allows physicians to determine if the patient can receive treatment at SRM, or if - or how quickly - they need to be transported to Greeley or Denver for treatment. But about 76 percent of patients consulted are able to remain in the community hospital.

Staff from Sterling Regional MedCenter and the Sterling Fird Department gather around the hospital's new stroke robot, left. (David Martinez/Journal-Advocate)

CO-DOC - administered by the Colorado Neurological Institute - was initially funded by a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Cancer, Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease program. Since its first consultation out of Springfield in 2006, the program has conducted more than 1,300 more.

Klein said she first used CO-DOC and the telestroke program at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley and McKee Medical Center in Loveland about six years ago.

"It worked tremendously there," she added.

Klein wouldn't divulge the cost of CO-DOC (she said she "got a really good deal" ), but SRM absorbs a cost each month to use the program. The cost doesn't transfer to patients who use it.

Though the technology isn't new statewide, there are still some kinks and possibilities to work out for its future in Sterling; one of CO-DOC's capabilities that lets Denver physicians hear a patient's heartbeat isn't running yet.

But Klein said the technology has potential.

"Telemedicine is the wave of the future," she said. "I think we'll see more and more of this."

East Morgan County Hospital in Brush will also receive this technology soon.